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Jack vs. Tiger: Who's the Greatest Golfer?

sungho_kr

By sungho_kr
in Tour Talk

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Greatest Golfer (GOAT)  

222 members have voted

  1. 1. Tiger or Jack: Who's the greatest golfer?

    • Tiger Woods is the man
      1627
    • Jack Nicklaus is my favorite
      820

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brocks
brocks

For some reason, you have missed hundreds of posts that do accept that.  I've often said I can't even prove that Tiger would beat Vardon head to head, although I'd bet on him. What I CAN prove is

turtleback
turtleback

Here ya go, right our of Jack's 1996 autobiography.  He is giving the third of his three reasons (equipment and fitness being the other) for the decline of the superstar in golf (re

brocks
brocks

That's very unfair to Jack, since he played events well into his 60's.  It also distorts Tiger's record, since he played injured for several years. It would be more fair to look at the the period

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running-8-iron Member

running-8-iron

Posted
Posted

Tiger by far.

It's obviously hard to compare the different eras because of the differences in equipment, nutrition, sport conditioning, rehabilitation, the number of competitors, the quality of the competition, the courses etc etc etc...but irrespective of that, Tiger is probably the better athlete and probably the better golfer.

I compare questions like this to 'who is the faster sprinter, Carl Lewis or Usain Bolt?' (being Canadian, I was going to use Ben Johnson in my question but it probably would have got me alot of abuse ) Carl Lewis' best was probably 9.86s in the 100m, while Usain Bolt's is likely 9.69s. Again, irrespective of eras, Bolt is faster.

In my bag..

Driver: Mighty Big T3, 8°, Grafalloy Prolite 35
Fairway Wood: PT, 13°
Fairway Wood: Seville 15° (in my bag since 1987)Irons: T-Zoid Pro, 3-PWSW: MP-9, 56°LW: Tour Star, 64°Putter: Allied Professional (in my bag since 1989)Ball: ProV1xShoes:


drocpdp Member

drocpdp

Posted
Posted
I grew up watching Jack when I wasn't interested in golf that much.

I watched Tiger when I started getting into golf (or maybe Tiger started getting me into golf).

Tiger displays the mental tenacity and toughness that is so unique (thanks, in part, to marketing). I'd have to say Tiger appeals to a broader crowd and does show the true grit.

jack is great though.

ricod00 Newbie

ricod00

Posted
Posted
Jack is unbelievable. But the competition that Tiger goes up against week in and week out makes him the greatest.

colin007 Incredible Member

colin007

Posted
Posted
i swing from tiger's nuts...so therefore, it is tiger.

Colin P.

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bag_of_ants Newbie

bag_of_ants

Posted
Posted
I'm only born in '87 so obviously it is a bit hard for me to compare the two; but comparing what I've seen of the two of them, I'm going to go with Tiger.

I go with Tiger because of his mental attitude, as well as his commitment to change his swing during his career just to be even better.

Travtex Dedicated Member

Travtex

Posted
Posted
Got to jump on board with Tiger... Though I'm a newcomer, so that's the one I know at least a small something about.

It's a bit moot, though. I'm a lefty fanboy.

Currently in my bag:  Under Revision


Sandplay Established Member

Sandplay

Posted
Posted

Tiger has my vote he just always seems to hit the right shot when it is needed. He still has alot of years ahead of him to.

They say golf is like life, but don't believe them. Golf is more complicated than that.


JSwiney10 Established Member

JSwiney10

Posted
Posted
Anyone give Hunter Mahan a thought? He has really got his loose ends tied this year.
Driver: Walter Hagen T3 Square
3 wood: Walter Hagen T3
Hybrids: Walter Hagen T3
Irons: Walter Hagen T3
Putter: Walter Hagen MalletChipper: EZ RollShoes: GreenJoyGlove: ReactBall: E5+ or HX Hot Bite16 years old

Acropo Dedicated Member

Acropo

Posted
Posted
Anyone give Hunter Mahan a thought? He has really got his loose ends tied this year.

Not in a discussion about the all-time greatest, no!

k5thbeatle Member

k5thbeatle

Posted
Posted
Tiger is great but I voted for Jack. It's often said when comparing todays athletes with those of the past that todays athletes are in better shape/condition, which is true. However, I believe what makes any athlete great is that they did whatever it took for them to be great in their era. Hence if Jack was a young man today he would do what it takes, including being in better shape, to be great in today's era.

Prairie Golfer Well Established Member

Prairie Golfer

Posted
Posted
Allan Robertson

When he died in 1859 they had to hold a golf tournament the next year to see who would replace him as the "champion golfer." That tournament is known today as The Open Championship.

in the bag...

Driver: MX560
3W/5W: Tight Lies
3i-pw: Pi-7gw/sw: Tom Watsonputter: Bulls Eye bag: Ozoneball: / home: Lake of the Woods @ www.golfthelake.com


Gordo Newbie

Gordo

Posted
Posted
I am old enough to have followed both of these players in tournaments. I say the answer would become clear if we had Tiger play his rounds with a 43" Persimmon Driver with a steel shaft that weighed 150 grams and a Balata ball. Personally, I have never heard anything like the sound of Jack hitting a Balata ball 300 yds. (As Jack himself has said, the biggest advantage of today's play - tee to green- is the golf ball.)

The courses that Jack played on were not the manicured pieces of perfection that the tour gets to play on, today, either. They were lucky if the greens were as good as today's fairways! In his hayday, if you couldn't drive it in the fairway, you couldn't consistently win.

So every opinion is very hypothetical because of the changes. What I will say is that Jack respected the game more. You never heard him swear, or slam a club - he'd turn bright-pink after a bad shot and just groan "Ooooh, Jack!" You'd never have seen him let the gallery roll a boulder "loose impediment" out of his line, either. Jack played the game as it was meant to be played... only better than anyone else.

That is what makes me say that Jack was the greatest. That does not mean that I think of Tiger as any less of a phenomenon than what he is, however.

Driver- Tommy Armour AyrTime - High Launch
Woods- Tommy Armour 845 Metal Persimmon 3.5.7
Irons- Tommy Armour Silver Scot MB Blades 3-PW
SW - Tommy Armour R91 Chrome 56*
Putter - Tommy Armour EFT Milled Series Model 1


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    • iacas
      Andy Plummer on Abduction and Adduction

      By iacas · Posted

      He's using a driver swing, while I used the iron swing. Bryson goes from about 65° B to 15° B, hence the 50°. If you bend your right elbow, you're going to pull your hands across your chest some. Conversely, if you abduct your right arm and hold onto a grip with your left arm, you can see how extending the right elbow as we do in the golf swing during the downswing will "pull" the right shoulder/humerus forward (adducting it, as going from 65° to 15° of abduction is). Even people who pull their right shoulder WAY too far around them eventually get it "back in front" when their right arm/elbow extends. So, such a motion shows up as shoulder adduction even though the movement that causes it is just widening the trail elbow. The left hand on the grip almost "pulls" the hands forward as the left arm can't stretch much (there's some shoulder protraction, but that's almost maxed out at P4).
    • saevel25
      Andy Plummer on Abduction and Adduction

      By saevel25 · Posted

      That makes no sense at all.  so, I watched that Instagram. Here is a summary...  Bryson.... Address: Trail Shoulder 0 degrees adduction. P4: Trail Shoulder 65-deg abduction. Impact: Right shoulder 15-deg abduction. P9: 10 degrees adduction. Rory... Address: Trail Shoulder 16 degrees adduction. P4: Trail Shoulder 26 degrees abduction. Impact: Right shoulder 0 degrees abduction.  P9: 18 degrees of adduction.  DJ... Address: Trail Shoulder 4 degrees adduction. P4: Trail Shoulder 42 degrees abduction. Impact: Right shoulder 2 degrees abduction.  P9: 15 degrees of adduction.  Their point is that arm doesn't stay on the trail side. That the arms have to get across the chest from P4 to P9. I mean they do. What matters is the rate of which it happens relative to the position of the swing. The trail shoulder at P9 is not abducted a lot. The range of that total abduction movement is like 40 to 70 degrees. Bryson might be an outlier. Rory might be an outlier as well.  A couple of points.  1. None of them had any adduction at impact. So, this tells me the trail arms stays on the trail side of the body at impact. Is it moving towards lead shoulder, yes. It doesn't happen till post impact. The right side of the body is moving towards the target, so the arms don't have to as much as people think.  2. Trail shoulder adduction from Impact to P9 is 18 to 25 degrees.  3. P9 adduction of the trail shoulder is only about 2 to 12 degrees more adducted than at address. The arms/hands stay in front of the chest a long-time post impact. If Rory, from his address position just rotated his body towards the target and raised up his arms so he is at P9. He basically didn't have to move his trail arm further across his chest than where he started at address. Visualize that for a bit. I bet for people who tend to stall and drag their arms across their body to hit the ball, that would emphasize how much the arms stay in front of the body and how much you have to turn.             
    • BrooksButlerHays
      Andy Plummer on Abduction and Adduction

      By BrooksButlerHays · Posted

      Do you know how Manavian is measuring his shoulder adduction-abduction that purports to demonstrate 50 degrees or motion in Bryson's downswing? I know the broader biomechanics research/scientific literature on this suggests shoulder adduction-abduction is only a modest contributor of force generation in the downswing, so I'm definitely not convinced by anything he's arguing, I'm just curious how different people can be claiming to use ostensibly the same "data" to tell a much different story.
    • iacas
      Andy Plummer on Abduction and Adduction

      By iacas · Posted

      I have an update… I don't have much of a response, because the fact that they would ADD the numbers for the lead and trail shoulder together… I mean, wow. I was giving them too much credit. Nobody would think to assume they were doing THAT. That's beyond comical. One of the biomechanists I talked to put it this way: "So if I squatted down and went from 180 to 90 deg knee angle, then I would say 180 deg range of motion because I have two knees?" I'd type more (maybe), but honestly, I'm laughing a bit too hard. 🤣 Update: Mini Manavian blocked me on Instagram, so I cannot see his post showing Bryson with about 50° of range of motion (with a driver) from P4 to P7, and 75° only if you go out to the mid-follow-through. What a terrible loss for me. 😉 
    • WagonWheel
      Struggling With Volatility

      By WagonWheel · Posted

      Thanks, interesting to read. The swing is definitely very timing dependent. I hit it consistently I guess but consistently bad.    
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